}}{{tnr}}'''John Cullerton''' is the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[President of the Senate|President]] of the [[Illinois State Senate]]. Cullerton has served in the Illinois Senate since 1991. Cullerton was re-elected in November of 2006 with his term expiring in 2010. Cullerton also served in the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] from 1979 to 1991.

}}{{tnr}}'''John Cullerton''' is the [[Democratic]] of the [[Illinois State Senate]], representing District 6 and serving as [[President of the Senate]]. He was first elected to the chamber in 1990. He previously served in the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] from 1979 to 1991.

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Cullerton graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in 1970 and Law Degree in 1974 from Loyola-Chicago.

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Cullerton earned his Bachelor's and J.D. from Loyola-Chicago in 1970 and 1974, respectively. His professional experience includes working as a Public Defender in Cook County.

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Cullerton is a full-time Senator and a former Public Defender in Cook County.

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==Committee assignments==

==Committee assignments==

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===2013-2014===

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At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Cullerton served on the following committees:

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{{Committee Assignments

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|State = Illinois

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|year = 2013

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|Collapse =

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|Chamber = State Senate

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|Committee1 = Committee of the Whole

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|Chair1 =

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|Chair2 =

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|Committee2 = Executive

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|Committee3 =

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|Committee4 =

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|Committee5 =

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|Committee6 =

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|Committee7 =

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}}

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Cullerton serves on these committees:

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===2011-2012===

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In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Cullerton served on these committees:

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Cullerton served on these committees:<ref>[http://www.ilga.gov/senate/committees/default.asp "Illinois General Assembly" List of Illinois Senate Committees, July 28, 2009]</ref>

The [[Illinois State Senate]] passed [http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=174&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=40191&SessionID=76 a plan] for a two point income tax hike, from 3 percent to 5 percent. At the start of the 2011 session, Quinn met with Democratic leaders to speak about passing tax hike legislation in the [[Illinois House of Representatives|House]]. Gov. [[Pat Quinn]] is pulling for a hike of at least 1 percent.<ref>[http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/4820/cullerton-on-tax-hike/ "Cullerton on Tax Hike," ''Illinois Statehouse News'', January 4, 2011]</ref>

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Senate [[State Senate President Pro Tempore|President]] Cullerton said the House is going to have to act first.

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"We already passed an income tax out of the Senate," [http://cdn.statehousemedia.com/illinois/January/01-04-11/010411CullertonTaxes2.wmv Cullerton said]. "So they're talking about getting the vote to pass an income tax out of the House."

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House Republicans hesitate to support any tax increase without concessions from Quinn and legislative Democrats.

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State Rep [[Jil Tracy]] said while there has been talk of Medicaid, workers' comp and education reform, talk isn't going to get many votes.

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"I only hope there's been a lot of real reform talked about that's going to be shown in legislation," she said. "I'm not sure."

Both Republican and Democrat Senators were concerned that they didn't have enough time to before voting up or down the $1.2 billion in cuts to Gov. [[Pat Quinn]]’s introduced $35.4 billion budget.

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As the Senate President, Sen. Cullerton sought this vote in a time crunch that made many senators uncomfortable.

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“When we make these cuts they are real, and they affect real people,” Sen. [[Mike Jacobs, Illinois Senator|Mike Jacobs]] said. “So we do have to be careful and I do agree with my colleague Senator (William) Delgado that we should go through this list slowly, completely and without an eye on which constituent gets help and what constituent gets hurt, but based on numbers.”

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Sen. [[Matt Murphy]] said he too was concerned about the small time frame and reiterated his concern that reductions in spending as introduced don’t go far enough.

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“I don’t know that that gets us to a point where the tax increase goes away. I think the numbers, the way they run out, will not allow the tax increase to go away if we’re only at 1.2 (billion dollars),” Murphy said.

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The state increased the personal and corporate income taxes earlier this year by 67 percent and 45.9 percent, respectively. The tax increases will expire in four years unless the General Assembly votes to extend them.<ref>[http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/5918/senators-unhappy-with-proposed-budget-2/ "Senators unhappy with proposed budget," ''Illinois Statehouse News'', May 3, 2011]</ref>

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===Expired nominations===

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Eric Madiar, chief legal counsel to Senate President [[John Cullerton]], sent a letter to Illinois Comptroller [[Judy Baar Topinka]] in early January 2011, pointing out that 38 gubernatorial nominations expired with the closing of the previous [[Illinois General Assembly|General Assembly]], and therefore should not be paid a salary or expenses.

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Fifteen salaried and 23 unsalaried positions were up in the air in January 2011, including those of interim Illinois State Police Director Jonathon Monken and interim Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Manuel Flores.

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“We in the new Senate cannot take action on that old paperwork. There is no paperwork supporting those individuals to be in office today,” said Madiar.<ref>[http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/4950/senate-looks-to-clear-out-expired-nominations-2/ "Senate looks to clear out expired nominations," ''Illinois Statehouse News'', January 18, 2011]</ref>

==Elections==

==Elections==

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===2012===

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::''See also: [[Illinois State Senate elections, 2012]]''

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Cullerton won re-election in the [[State legislative elections, 2012|2012 election]] for [[Illinois State Senate elections, 2012|Illinois State Senate]] District 6. He was unopposed in the Democratic Primary on March 20<ref>[http://www.elections.il.gov/InfoForCandidates.aspx ''Illinois State Board of Elections'' "Candidate List," December 5, 2011]</ref><ref>[http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/ElectionInformation/VoteTotals/2012GPOfficialVote.pdf ''Illinois State Board of Elections,'' "Official 2012 Primary Results"]</ref> and was unopposed in the general election on November 6, 2012.<ref>[http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/ElectionInformation/VoteTotals/2012GEOfficialVote.pdf Illinois State Board of Elections, “Official Vote - November 6, 2012 General Election,” accessed December 31, 2012]</ref>

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its '''Legislative Vote Card''', grading all members in both chambers of the [[Illinois General Assembly]] on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."<ref>[https://illinoisopportunity.org/the-project/ Illinois Opportunity Project, "The Project," accessed February 21, 2013]</ref><ref name="IOP">[http://illinoisopportunity.org/votecard/ Illinois Opportunity Project, Legislative Vote Card home page, accessed February 21, 2013]</ref>

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Cullerton represents Illinois Senate District 6. District 6 includes in the Northeast and Near East sides of Chicago<ref>[http://www.ilchamber.org/Chamber_PAC/District_maps/legislative_dist_neil.pdf "Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Northeast Illinois Legislative District Maps, July 29, 2009]</ref>.

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====2012====

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Cullerton received a score of 37.50 out of 100 in 2012 for a grade of F according to the IOP’s grading scale. His score was tied for the 37th highest among all 59 members of the [[Illinois State Senate]] included in the Vote Card.<ref name="IOP"/>

==Personal==

==Personal==

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John and his wife, Pamela, have six children.

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John is married to Pamela Cullerton. They have six children and reside in Chicago, Illinois.

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==Recent news==

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This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term '''John + Cullerton + Illinois + Senate'''

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:''All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.''

2009-2010

Issues

Tax hike

Cullerton on tax hike and pension cap

The Illinois State Senate passed a plan for a two point income tax hike, from 3 percent to 5 percent. At the start of the 2011 session, Quinn met with Democratic leaders to speak about passing tax hike legislation in the House. Gov. Pat Quinn is pulling for a hike of at least 1 percent.[2]

Senate President Cullerton said the House is going to have to act first.

"We already passed an income tax out of the Senate," Cullerton said. "So they're talking about getting the vote to pass an income tax out of the House."

House Republicans hesitate to support any tax increase without concessions from Quinn and legislative Democrats.

State Rep Jil Tracy said while there has been talk of Medicaid, workers' comp and education reform, talk isn't going to get many votes.

"I only hope there's been a lot of real reform talked about that's going to be shown in legislation," she said. "I'm not sure."

Tracy said Democrats only want GOP votes as a shield against angry voters.[3]

Budget, 2011

Both Republican and Democrat Senators were concerned that they didn't have enough time to before voting up or down the $1.2 billion in cuts to Gov. Pat Quinn’s introduced $35.4 billion budget.

As the Senate President, Sen. Cullerton sought this vote in a time crunch that made many senators uncomfortable.

“When we make these cuts they are real, and they affect real people,” Sen. Mike Jacobs said. “So we do have to be careful and I do agree with my colleague Senator (William) Delgado that we should go through this list slowly, completely and without an eye on which constituent gets help and what constituent gets hurt, but based on numbers.”

Sen. Matt Murphy said he too was concerned about the small time frame and reiterated his concern that reductions in spending as introduced don’t go far enough.

“I don’t know that that gets us to a point where the tax increase goes away. I think the numbers, the way they run out, will not allow the tax increase to go away if we’re only at 1.2 (billion dollars),” Murphy said.

The state increased the personal and corporate income taxes earlier this year by 67 percent and 45.9 percent, respectively. The tax increases will expire in four years unless the General Assembly votes to extend them.[4]

Expired nominations

Eric Madiar, chief legal counsel to Senate President John Cullerton, sent a letter to Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka in early January 2011, pointing out that 38 gubernatorial nominations expired with the closing of the previous General Assembly, and therefore should not be paid a salary or expenses.

Fifteen salaried and 23 unsalaried positions were up in the air in January 2011, including those of interim Illinois State Police Director Jonathon Monken and interim Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Manuel Flores.

“We in the new Senate cannot take action on that old paperwork. There is no paperwork supporting those individuals to be in office today,” said Madiar.[5]

Scorecards

Illinois Opportunity Project

The Illinois Opportunity Project, "an independent research and public policy enterprise that promotes legislative solutions in advance of free markets and free minds," annually releases its Legislative Vote Card, grading all members in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly on the basis of their support of "pro-growth economic policies that increase personal freedom and reign in expansive government."[11][12]

2012

Cullerton received a score of 37.50 out of 100 in 2012 for a grade of F according to the IOP’s grading scale. His score was tied for the 37th highest among all 59 members of the Illinois State Senate included in the Vote Card.[12]

Personal

John and his wife, Pamela, have six children.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term John + Cullerton + Illinois + Senate

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.